About
The story so far
HOMEFRESH Market was inspired by my mum and dad’s farming and corner store journey, my love of retail, marketing retail brands and my intrigue with how the simple life I had as a child could get so complicated.
Stephen Curtis
Ron and Jean's for Quality Greens
the story of Stephens parents
In 1956 Ron and Jean packed up their 4 children and set off for a 3 week holiday to Alice Springs.
Dad’s love affair with the land started almost straight away, he got work on the only market garden in the town and mum and dad decided to stay and build a new farming life.
A permit to find water came with an offer to own the land if he found the water. So with the help from a local aboriginal man he drilled straight into water and never looked back.
10 years later Ron and Jean’s market garden was feeding the town and they decided to open ‘Ron and Jean for Quality Green’, a corner fruit and veg store, where my love affair with retail began.
We grew everything we could locally, we supplied many surrounding areas and we even shipped fresh produce to Darwin on the wholesale side. On the retail side we feed our local community, offered credit to families who needed a hand and sometimes got paid with free labour and a barter system.
It was a wonderful life for us. Seven kids growing up helping mum and dad on the farm, even missing the odd day of school when the trucks needed loading.
In my early teens I witnessed the emergence of the supermarkets and I watched the impact on my family and my community, not fully comprehending what was happening.
I have been inspired by the emergence of the farmers market and can see a real opportunity to create an alternative collaborative retail offer.
